Today I want to share with you my tech journey from being a novice student to a full-stack developer and beyond. I hope you find it inspiring and helpful!
It all started in 2019 when I was in the second year of my engineering degree. My friend introduced me to web development and I was intrigued by it. I had some basic knowledge of HTML and CSS, but I wanted to learn more. I started researching about web development and discovered many different things about this side of the world, like what is development in general, what is a tech stack, what are the different tech stacks, and what are the different technologies that are used for web development.
I decided to start with JavaScript, which is a popular and versatile programming language for web development. I had some previous experience with C and C++, so learning JavaScript was not too difficult for me. I learned enough JavaScript in one month to start using it in web application development. I started making basic web apps with HTML, CSS and Vanilla JavaScript.
After getting comfortable with basic JavaScript, I moved on to React.js, which is a JavaScript library for building user interfaces. React made it easier for me to create dynamic and interactive web pages with reusable components. I learned React in a few weeks and started building single page web applications. I enjoyed the learning curve and the learning journey of React.
After getting hands-on experience with frontend development with React, I wanted to learn backend development as well. Backend development is the part of web development that deals with the server-side logic, data storage and communication between the frontend and the backend. I chose Node.js and Express.js as my backend technologies, and MongoDB as my database. Node.js is a runtime environment that allows me to use JavaScript on the server-side. Express.js is a framework based on Node.js that simplifies the creation of web servers and APIs. MongoDB is a document-oriented database that stores data in JSON-like format.
I learned Node.js, Express.js and MongoDB in a couple of months and started building full-stack web applications. A full-stack web application is a web application that has both frontend and backend functionality. I was able to create web applications that could handle user authentication, data manipulation and more. I was proud of myself for becoming a full-stack developer.
But I did not stop there. During the pandemic, I had more time to explore other paths like graphic designing and game development. I have always been interested in visual arts and gaming, so I decided to give them a try. I learned some graphic designing tools like Photoshop and Illustrator and designed some user interfaces. I also learned some game development tools like Unity and C# and built a simple game in Unity engine. It was fun and challenging to learn new skills and apply them in different domains. Sometimes I feel like the pandemic was a boon for me in way that I get to explore my interests, get to know the scope of my interests and choose the path with good scope in the future.
After enduring two years of the pandemic, I reached the final year of my engineering degree, during which each student is expected to create a final project to showcase their four years of education and knowledge. For my project, I conceived the idea of developing an AR-based ecommerce web application, which received accolades from my mentor, professors, and principal. My principal expressed that the project was "something different," as most projects at our college were typically divided into two broad categories - ML and web development.
Over the course of a year, my team and I conducted extensive research on AR and its integration with web development, ultimately resulting in the creation of our AR-based e-commerce web app. I was ecstatic about this project and it marked the first major project that I loved working on. To this day, I still maintain the application.
After the completion of my engineering degree, I secured a position in Infosys, a service-based multinational corporation. During my training at Infosys, I acquired knowledge of new technologies such as Dotnet and Azure.
Starting this year, I began writing technical articles on my blog to share my knowledge and insights with others. Recently in March, I obtained certifications in AZ-900 (Azure Fundamentals) and DP-900 (Azure Data Fundamentals).
So this has been my tech journey thus far, and I am eager to continue learning new things and exploring emerging technologies, with an eye toward eventually working with AI 🤖.
I have learned a lot of things along the way and I am still learning new things every day. Web development is an exciting field that is constantly evolving and offering new opportunities. Graphic designing and game development are also creative fields that allow me to express myself and have fun. I am grateful for having these passions and being able to pursue them.